MR. McCLELLAN: At this point, I mean, the President is ready.
He's looking forward to tonight's debate. I'm sure he'll continue to
talk to staff and advisors during the day, but tonight is an
opportunity to talk directly with the American people about the clear
differences on our nation's highest priorities. So the President is
looking forward to it.

Q Is it more of a fine-tuning thing, throughout the
afternoon, as opposed to a formal kind of walk-through?

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, you're talking about a walk --

Q No --

MR. McCLELLAN: The walk-through he did earlier was just --

Q I didn't mean the word "walk-through," I mean, you know,
run-through.

Q Trot-through. (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: At this point, you know, the debate is tonight.
He's been through the formal preparation at this point.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he's spending the rest of the day at the
Brauer house. That's why I said, I'm sure he'll be touching base with
staff and advisors to -- you know, on some of the, just last minute
preparations. In fact, I think -- I know he was going to try to go
fishing; there's a lake there at the residence he's staying at and I
know he's going to try to get some fishing in. We'll see if the rain
allows for that.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President's policies have put us on a
path to greater prosperity. The President's policies are working to
create jobs and keep the economy moving forward, but there is still
more work to do. And we've seen 13 straight months of job growth; more
than 1.9 million jobs created in the last year. The unemployment rate
is below the averages of the '70s, '80s and '90s, at 5.4 percent. But
to continue creating jobs, we need to pursue pro-growth policies that
keep taxes low, that eliminate overly burdensome regulations, that stop
lawsuit abuse, and that give people more control over their own lives
so that we can promote innovation and entrepreneurship and --

Q I think there's a perception that Kerry's going to go in
there loaded with ammo on domestic and foreign policy issues.
Domestically, the jobs numbers; on foreign policy, the WMD stuff. Is
the President really prepared to sort of field -- or to fend off any
attacks, expected attacks on these kinds of issues?

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, you know, like I said, I'm sure that Senator
Kerry will continue to launch false and misleading attacks. I mean, he
did just yesterday. The President pointed out very clearly that, you
know, when he posed the question, "who is the one misleading the
American people" -- when he read from Senator Kerry's own comments back
in October of 2002. There are very clear differences in this race on
the substance. The President recognizes that we're waging a broad war
on terrorism; that it's a two-pronged strategy -- that we need to
continue to go on the offensive to defeat the terrorists, but we also
need to spread freedom to defeat the ideology of hatred that leads to
people flying planes into buildings. So there are clear differences.

Senator Kerry's shifting positions and contradictions only weaken
our ability to wage the war on terrorism. And Senator Kerry's -- but
the larger problem there is that Senator Kerry shows a real
misunderstanding of the war on terrorism.

And then on the economy, what you asked about a second ago, there
are very clear differences. The last thing we need to do right now is
raise taxes. That would stifle job creation. To continue creating
jobs we need lower taxation, we need less regulation, we need to stop
lawsuit abuse and we need to promote innovation. And Senator Kerry's
policies would stifle job creation by raising taxes, increasing
regulations, promoting more lawsuits and taking control out of people's
lives.

Q I'm sorry, one brief follow up. Has the President -- is
the President bringing anything to this debate that perhaps he has
learned from the first debate experience? You know, there's been a
widespread perception that maybe he wasn't exactly 110 percent on his
game that day. Is there -- is there anything that he is going to try
to do a little bit better this time?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that the race is about the substance, not
the style. And the American people are paying much closer attention to
the election right now. This is a time for choosing. There are clear
choices in this race. And so I think that that's what the American
people will base their decisions on. There were clear differences
articulated in the first debate. And the President will continue to
highlight the differences in tonight's debate.

The Vice President highlighted many of those differences
yesterday. There are fundamental differences on the war on terrorism
and how we keep our economy moving forward, and there are fundamental
philosophical differences that the American people are seeing.

Q -- stylistically. In other words, he's not going to try to
stop making faces or whatever?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is a different format. Well, he spoke to the
facial issue just the other day. I think he addressed that matter
pretty clearly -- (laughter) -- when he talked about, with all the
shifting positions coming out of Senator Kerry's mouth, it's no
surprise he would have such an expression. (Laughter.)

Q But the --

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, I think that that's a whole diversion from
the substantive differences on the big priorities facing the American
people. Senator Kerry cannot defend his shifting positions and his
fundamental misunderstanding of the war on terrorism. So they would
rather this be about diversions like -- diversions focused on style,
rather than the substance, because when the race is about the
substantive differences, the American people have a very clear choice
before them. They can't win when the race is about the substantive
differences.

Q Back to the jobs numbers. Was the President happy with
today's numbers?

MR. McCLELLAN: I just talked about them. When you've created 1.9
million jobs over the last year, that is good news -- but there is more
to do. And the President is not going to be satisfied until everyone
who is looking for work can find a job. And you've heard him say that
many times.

But there is more work to do, and that's why I said we need to
continue to pursue the pro-growth policies this President has
implemented to put us on a path to greater prosperity. And that's --
that's exactly what this President is doing with his six-point plan.
But he also recognizes that we're in a changing economy where we need
to make sure people have the skills to fill the high-growth,
high-paying jobs that are being created. The job creation that is
going on is broad-based throughout the economy over the last year.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it will some of the -- it will be similar
to the remarks you've heard the last couple of days in his speeches.
But he taped -- yes, he did tape that this morning.

Oh, I forgot one other thing this morning. He, besides his usual
briefings, he called the new President-elect of Indonesia to
congratulate him on winning the election and running a strong
campaign. The two had previously met back in October, 2003, in Bali,
when the President was there. And they -- so they have an established
relationship. And the President and the President-elect said that they
look forward to seeing each other at the APEC summit in Chile in
November.

Q Scott, what about future travel? Do you have anything you
can tell us?

MR. McCLELLAN: The purpose of that call was a congratulatory
call.

Q Future travel?

MR. McCLELLAN: Now we get to the real substance. The President,
on Tuesday, will make remarks at Colorado Springs, Colorado Victory
2004 rally. Then he'll attend a Victory 2004 luncheon in Paradise
Valley, Arizona. We overnight in Phoenix on Tuesday. And on
Wednesday, there is a -- anybody? Anybody?

MR. McCLELLAN: Debate, there you go. The President -- we have a
debate -- the debate in Tempe. And then he'll visit a debate watch
party in Phoenix after that. And we overnight in Phoenix on
Wednesday. On Thursday, the President will make remarks at a Las
Vegas, Nevada Victory 2004 rally. Then he'll make remarks at a Reno,
Nevada Victory 2004 rally, and then remarks at a Central Point, Oregon
rally. And we overnight Thursday in Jacksonville, Oregon.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the last I saw, we've seen -- we've seen the
reports, and I know the British government is working urgently to try
and corroborate the reports, but they have not at this point. I
understand that the British government has been in close contact with
the Bigley family throughout this difficult time for the family. Our
thoughts and prayers are with the Bigley family, as well. And that's
what we know at this point.

MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, we're going to have a presidential
statement out on that, so we'll get you that, on Egypt -- the Red Sea
resorts that were attacked. So we'll get it -- we'll get you that
statement here soon from the President.